Dear Kehilla,

On Tuesday night, I attended  a very special evening with Josh Frydenburg at the Mount Sinai foundation. It was inspiring to hear Josh sharing his story.

His mother arrived here in Australia as a stateless child from a refugee camp after escaping the Holocaust. Years later, her son Josh climbed the ranks of Australian politics and became the treasurer of Australia.

One of the messages he conveyed to us was the importance of being proud of our Judaism. He said “we must have Judaism in our hearts but also on our sleeve.”

Many people have been asking me, “Rabbi, what is the Jewish response to what’s happening here in our country?”

My response is that if we put our heads down and hide our Jewishness, that will be a win to the haters.

We must walk the streets of Sydney as proud Jews, and embrace our Judaism. That is how we will win. Every time we express our Judaism we have scored a goal for our side.

In this weeks Parsha we have the second paragraph of the Shema. This is part of the Shema prayer that we read everyday.

In it, it says, “to serve Hashem with all your heart.” The sages explain that this refers to prayer. Judaism is meant to be a deeply emotional experience.

Then the same paragraph concludes with the Mitzvah of Mezuzah, which is clearly a Mitzvah that is seen on the outside as well. This reminds us that we should have Judaism strongly in our hearts, and in addition we should wear it proudly outside.

Shabbat Shalom!